77 Hitmen

I thought "arrogant" was when someone proposes to invest heavily in this team to help make it more competitive in the future. Reading your and other posters' responses to post after post full of Tirades, Rants, And Yelling without having to read the complete and utter nonsense myself reminds me of the old Neil Steinberg column "Bob Watch" where he read and summarized Bob Greene's columns with the motto "we read him so you don't have to".

So the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs will be playing a lot of Monday games.

He was a Cubs fan, though.

Good Lord, I hope that isn't how Getz makes his decisions!

Compared to the Guards, Getz got an F at the deadline. The two key components of the Sox pitching this postseason - Smoke and Mirrors - have collapsed like a house of cards.

Need to? Yes Will they? No

Yes, I heard that! I miss that intro.

That's true. I'm actually not against the idea of going back to a 154-game schedule. Fewer games to burn out pitchers arms. Built in off days make scheduling rain out make ups easier. I was just trying to figure out why the owners would want this. I suppose other than the teams like the Yankees, Dodgers, and Padres who have packed houses every night, having 4 fewer home games on weeknights during the year isn't going to make a huge dent in attendance. Is Shore Capital Private Equity Field at the Railyards still going to be worth the money for Ishbia with only 77 home games? 😜

2000.

Yeah, if they don't win tonight, you can almost stick a fork in them as this team is big on momentum and it'll be tough to recover having to win a do-or-die game on the road after blowing 2 at home. And I'll be more than glad to have this post brought back up to me if they do indeed lose game 4 and win game 5.

Location and poor stadium design has always been a drag on attendance. Once the team gets popular enough to fill the lower bowl, the 500 level seats are a tough sell. Tailgating is cool....but that doesn't bring in more casual fans. The proposed new location is only 2 miles and 2 red line stops away, is still on the south side of town, and as @southsider2k5 just said above, many people seem to agree it's a better location. Really, the biggest objection since Jerry announced the 78 proposal almost 3 years ago is having taxpayers pay for yet another Sox stadium. But it looks like Ishbia is planning to privately-finance a ballpark if he builds one there - so that removes the biggest sticking point.

Hopefully we can avoid at bats where Colson walks bat to the dugout shaking his head in frustration.

but only for the 8 teams that make it to the division series? Also, going to best of 7 means most likely 1 or 2 extra games per division series.

For each team: Four fewer home dates for ticket sales and stadium district revenues. Eight fewer games for the RSNs to broadcast.

One off day each week. Also, Division winner gets to pick the wild card round opponent. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/50134346/mlb-proposes-shorter-regular-season-best-7-division-series https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-mlbpa-proposal-154-game-schedule-new-playoff-structure

There's a lot of bizarre gatekeeping going on over the course of this thread. Who qualifies as a real Sox fan? Someone who is South Side enough? Does that mean only people who live south of Cermak? Who should be the owner of the Sox after Jerry is gone? Certainly not a billionaire who wants to invest heavily on this team because that makes him arrogant. Sure, people can honestly say that they like the current park and want the Sox to stay there (or at least at the site). But, from a business perspective, it shouldn't shock anyone that both Reinsdorf and Ishbia believe that the team has a higher ceiling and better ability to compete as a big market team at a South Loop ballpark. Just look at the economics around of teams around the league and why teams want stadium districts/downtown-adjacent ballparks instead of ballparks with acres of surface lots. It would be very interesting to see some sort of survey of what most Sox fans/Chicagoland residents think of the South Loop proposal if the stadium is privately financed. I bet most people are generally in favor of the idea. Perhaps a better question would be "Would you be more likely or less likely (or no difference) to attend Sox games if they built a stadium in the South Loop."

Ald. Lee discusses the Amtrak proposal on Fox 32.

.....i looked it up. Only the Rockies (1), Marlins (2), and Nationals (2) have had fewer LCS appearances than the Sox. The Rockies and Marlins have only been around since 1993, so the only team that has been around since 1969 with fewer appearances is the LCS than the Sox are the Nationals/Expos with two.....oh, and they've won the World Series once in that time too, just like the Sox. Tied with the Sox at 3 appearances are the Rays (only been around since 1998) and the Rangers (who have been around since before 1969).

In that case, I wonder why Amtrak doesn't just release the environmental review they conducted. They said they need approval from the USDOT before they can do that. Is that forthcoming? Maybe that process does indeed take time. Otherwise, it gives people the impression they're stonewalling and that's fueling this opposition.

Yes, it's a HUGE difference. First of all, getting swept by a better team isn't choking, while blowing a 2-0 series lead with 2 home games ahead of you is. Second, since the ALCS began in 1969, the White Sox have only appeared in it three times. THREE TIMES IN 57 YEARS (thanks, Jerry, since you've owned this team for 45 of those years). They have to be near the bottom in MLB in LCS appearances. Which teams have had fewer appearances? Maybe the Rockies? Marlins? Not exactly impressive to only beat out those two. So yeah, if they can make the the ALCS for the 4th time in 57 seasons and then getting swept by a 98-win team, that is immensely better than choking away the ALDS to the same team that they choked away the division title.

that's how i feel about it. When they made the ALDS, i felt that anything they do from here on out is just icing on the cake. 102 losses to a playoff series win is quite an accomplishment. But after they took a 2-0 lead on the road, I'll be pissed if they blew this series by losing 2 at home and then a 3rd in a row at Cleveland....and at this point I can't say I'm confident that the Sox will win tonight or (if necessary) Saturday.

Starting? 😉

This area is definitely majority Cubs fan, but it's NOT Cubs Territory like Schaumburg or Arlington Heights as it's geographically neutral between north and south side. Nonetheless, plenty of Sox fans out here, but obviously the last 15 years or so has decimated people's interest in this team. People might not realize how many people live out here. 150k in Naperville and 200k in Aurora alone. Rejuvenating interesting in the Sox in the Naperville region is a good thing for this team.

Ishbia?

Talk about overhyping this! Belmont who? Total dud of a reveal followed by a total dud of a game. I’m sure he’s a Perfectly Fine actor and I’m glad he’s a big Sox fan, but hardly an A lister…or B lister by Chicago standards.